New Year's Eve

When I was dating Ray I was essential since I do not like to drink. I was the designated driver every year. A boring job. After we moved to Kansas City and had children we did not want small children staying up until 12 so we had New Year's eve the next noon at 12. We had poppers and confetti and a great dinner of ham, etc.
When they were older we let them stay up and Ray had a great time. He always saved some fireworks and at midnight set it off. Fireworks is better than a gun. At least you know where it will go off and who knows where a bullet will land. On New Year's noon we still had the poppers and confetti so we celebrated twice. With the weather so lousy this year I'm not sure when we will celebrate so it may go into the next year a few days. New Year's generally had the added job of putting all the Christmas stuff away including the snowmen from the front yard and the lights off the house. This year they may stay for Valentine's Day. We just won't turn them on. Snowmen look normal in your front lawn in January even if they are wooden. HAPPY NEW YEAR.

White Christmas

I know you are supposed to love a white Christmas but I think that is for ski lodges and such for I do not remembering thinking of it as anything but a bother. This year has been bad since due to the weather we can't get together as a family. I love the Christmas dinner. The only time I can remember not caring for the meat was when my mother decided to cook a goose. It was really greasy. This year I was going to see some family I had not seen for awhile. \Maybe I would have liked it better if I had lived with a hill. Now 13th has kind of a hill but is not great for sledding. My own children did not have a great place to sled so were generally just pulled around on a sled. I remember one Christmas that Ray had a bright idea about a train track. Our house was small and he thought if he made a train board and put it on the wall of our son's room he could pull it up when not in use. Ray was not good with building things but tried. That year he built it in the basement. It was big. When my in-laws arrived for Christmas he had help. He tried putting it on the wall but that was a disaster and he ended moving it to the basement and putting it on saw horses. Later the board became the food boxes for our many camping trips. They were sturdy. The train went under the tree that year.

We have a great deal of snow this year and the streets are covered. The street in front of our house is generally cleared but you have trouble getting to it. The reason that Flint Street is clear is our neighbor's son is the Shawnee City Engineer and he cleans a path from his house--west of Quivira -- to his parents house. They are going there for Christmas dinner this year and I'm sure it will be cleared in time. However most of the streets leading to Flint are not so clear. I think the name of the song should be "The nightmare of snow on Christmas Day". That is my opinion for the day.

Christmas candy

When I was growing up people made candy a lot at Christmas. My mother loved to make divinity which was hard to do. Fudge was not much easier but she enjoyed doing it. I loved eating the failures with a spoon out of a pan. When I got married Ray loved to make Christmas candy. I got pretty good with fudge and with a good mixer I was able to make divinity. I don't know if people still make it but it added a lot to the Christmas spirit. I loved spooning the failures out of the pan.

Christmas socks

I spent a great deal of time waiting for Ray when he covered new stories in our early marriage and I decided it would be nice to have something to do so I learned to knit from a .25 cent book from the dime store. I made baby booties and stuff and entered them at the Topeka Fair. My sister Ethel read an article in the Woman's Home Companion and told me to switch to Christmas socks. I have done over a thousand now and have a nice long list of people who were kind enough to let me knit them. I've never been a great knitter and have made some of them wrong. During the time I have knitted I've met some great people. I knitted one for a family that the baby died but they wanted a sock to remember it by. I knitted two for a grandmother who was dying and wanted to leave them to her two grandchildren so they would remember her. I made one for someone who was shot but recovered and one murdered who did not recover. I have had families break up and return socks of the member who was not around anymore.

I took a long time to knit them. I think the fastest I did was when my first granddaughter was born in Washington, DC and I made her sock on the 3 hour flight to Washington. It is probably a shorter flight now so even if I was good I would not get it done. I had to re-knit one family who stored the socks with candy still in them and a pack rat ate the candy and the socks. I have knitted four for family dogs. Some names are a little long so I have had to go down the side of the sock with the name instead of across. I have had them on the cover of a magazine.

I'm still knitting but I do not knit as well as my daughter, Susan, and at the moment am stuck on knitting the heel. One child lost her sock. She was a neighorhood child and her mother said she could not ask me but one morning I found her 8 year old self outside my door and she said, "My mother says I can't ask you but I want a sock". I knitted her another. It is a fun hobby and I've met a lot of people because of it. I used to knit them on planes but I don't think they allow needles on the plane anymore. The only country I have run into that does not knit is Africa. They crochet.

Bread and milk home delivery

When I was growing up in Topeka we had our milk delivered. It was delivered by a man driving a wagon. We had a carrier and it held, I think, 6 quart bottles. They were funny shaped bottles and had a small rounded top. They gave you a spoon and the top had cream. When we moved to Kansas City they still delivered milk and we had it for awhile. We also had bread delivery three times a week by Manor Bread. I liked that as our closest grocery store was a mile away and we only had one car. I liked the delivery men but the Manor Bread stropped after the delivery man fell in love with one of the customers and murdered her husband.

We have only had two murders in my neighborhood. The Manor Bread man and a nephew who was tired of waiting for his aunt to die so he could inherit her money so he sped things up a little. Both easily solved. Of course we also had the Fuller Brush Man and the man who sold flavorings and extracts like vanilla. I'm not sure of his company's name.

The joy of oatmeal

I grew up eating oatmeal and loved it. I have not changed. Ray and I traveled around the world and we always tried to stay at Statler Hilton Hotels as they always served oatmeal. Mr. Statler liked oatmeal also and insisted they serve it at his hotels. We stayed in a Statler Hilton hotel in Wichita and they did not have it. I wrote a letter to the company and the next time we stayed there they had it. I remember in Peru at the Statler they wanted to pour hot milk on mine in the kitchen and I told them I wanted to put my own milk on and we had a great discussion, which was not easy as my Spanish was not good nor was their English. Every morning I still have oatmeal. I make it in my micro wave now and not in a double boiler like when I was growing up. Ray went in for various cereal so I did not corrupt him.

Chilhood Christmases

When I was growing up we were in a depression like now so you mostly got gifts that were essential. My mother stored the gifts in the attic which the entrance was a ladder on the wall in her bedroom. We never tried to find out. Around the tree we each had a chair. Mine was the chair to my desk. Things were generally wapped in brown sacks. We did not get fancy wrapping paper until my brother Allan's girl friend came into our life. The sacks generally had our name written on them. I checked to see if mine was as big as Helen's. They generally were. I had been riding my sister Ethel's bike and when I was 12 I got a new one. I think I had a note to go look somewhere. My father was very talented and he used to see thing and then duplicate them. I don't think he ever had a patent. He put motors on everything in the house and could build anything. I know when I went to school at that time you had sewing in the 5th grade and cooking in the sixth. Boys had manual training for both fifth and sixth grade. I was the only one in the class who had to learn how to pedal the sewing machine. The teacher thought I was stupid. We made aprons in the fifth grade to wear in the sixth grade for cooking. My dad continued to make things and my daughters Sally and Sue share a sled and a Santa that when they were little he made for them. They pass it back and forth. He would come to visit me and look around to see what I needed so I have many bookcases he made, a magazine rack and the original picnic table for the kids. Things were always made out of boxes he got parts and batteries in at his garage and he had a tendency to use yellow paint. He made toy boxes for Susan and Steve. Steve's was a train and Susan's a wagon. I have great spice racks. He made the original marble game that the kids wore out and the principal at Hocker Grove where the three oldest kids went to junior high made us a new one. It has never worked as well as the one my father made. I thought my childhood Christmases were great. We also always got a book. What more can you need for Christmas--new underwear, a book, new socks and candy.

Decorating the tree

We always had such a good time decorating the tree. We use to spray snow on the tree and someone always got in their face. One year when all five were helping. I remember that Sally was using the kithen ladder to reach things and forgot she was on the ladder and stepped back to admore the tree and fell off. She was not hurt but never did that again. The trinsel was generally in little masses as they did not single out much and is was generally a gob. The tree was in the middle of the room at first and then as we got grandchilsdren was put in the front window. We had a large dog a Golden reteriver and he almost knocked it down so we tied it to the windows on each side, It was a fun time for everyone. Today two daughter and four granddaughter decorated my tree and already Buster has tried to eat one of the decorations that was a stuffed animal with M and M on it's stomach. They may have to take my tree down early or I will remove all the stuffed animals. The dog is in the front room by himself a lot and I woukld rather he not injure things. I have them on a chair with something in front of them but it is not enough.

One Christmas Eve

When our oldest son Steve went to Sunday School in Topeka one year they sent him home with something to read on Christmas Eve. The K C Times let their reporters pick four days they wanted to be off each year and Ray took Fourth of July, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Thanksgiving. We used the ceremony Steve brought home each Christmas Eve. We found all the candles in the house and put them on a card table, put on Christmas music and read the ceremony. We did that every year until our granddaughter, Hayden, was the baby in the church pageant. After that we went to the church and watched different granddaughters be angels, Mary and shepherds and we had one more baby Jesus. I never got past being an angel myself. We would drink eggnog and smile a lot. I love the picture I have on my refrigerator of the occasion. The only one not in it is Steve and I think he took the picture. Sally put it on a Mother's Day card.

An extra kid for Christmas

One Christmas we had a temporary exchange student. He had been at the Lee Summit school and had gotten into an argument with the prinicpal. The school told AFS they wanted him out of the school. AfS removed him at once. We had sometimes been a temporary home for a couple of days, This was the first of December. We found him a nice young man from Germany. As the days went along they still had not placed him. They had a family interested that were Jewish. They wanted the family to check with all the family members as to if they minded a Germany boy since they were Jewish and the country of Germany had been hard on the Jews during the war. Time went by and I realized we were going to have Walter for Christmas. I went to K Mart and brought new underwear==an exciting Christmas gift but I knew his size since I did the laundry. I did not want him to watch us opening gifts and he not have any. Come Christmas morning we all opened our gifts and Walter his and he was very happy and told me he liked it. During lunch that day we got a phone call that the family was taking Walter as they had cleared it with all their relatives. He got along with his new family very well and in the High School he went to. He told me when he left it was the Best Christmas he ever had. In later years I had a visit from his sister who had come as an exchange student and she stopped by to tell us how much Walter had liked his stay.

When we had the Fairy Princess at Nieman School

When we were first involved with Nieman at Christmas time, Santa came around to the classrooms and gave out treats. One year the School Board said "No Santa". I know Ray was not on the board then for he would never have voted against Santa. We had a lot of pretty mothers and we convinced one to be a Fairy Princess. She was lovely and went around the rooms giving out candy or cookies, whatever the room mothers had for their classroom. It was very successful but I think after that year we just let the room mothers give out candy. She had warned her own children not to recognize her and they liked being in on the plan.

Christmas tree lights

The first year we were married we had a Christmas tree. It needed lights. Lights were hard to find as the war was still causing shortages. We found some lights at Crosby's in Topeka. They were strange rather large. We were glad to get them. Our apartment was on 6th Street and we had two nice windoows in the front room of our apartment. We thought the tree looked gorgeous, Today sixty two years later one bulb still glows on the Lafferty tree in Fairway.

Christmas 1960

It was one of the last years that downtown Kansas City had a strong shopping area. The streets were decorated with festive lighted garlands and I think the Crowns were there. The crowns have now moved to North Kansas City. Our kids were between 3 and 12. They were dressed in their Sunday best. I met Ray during his 2 1/2 hour dinner time. We had supper at the Forum cafeteria so everyone could find something they liked. Then we started our walking tour. We stopped first at the Jones Store at the corner of 12th and Main. They had a train carrying children and adults through snowmen, frolicking elves, reindeer and other Christmas things. Then to Klines for the Fairy Princess, a beautiful young girl dressed in a gorgeous gown and a crown and holding a wand. For a small fee the children lined up at her throne and she waved her magic wand and a brightly covered gift appeared. It would be a coloring book, crayons, a tin whistle, a spinning top or some other trinket. From there we went to Emery Bird Thayer on Eleventh between Walnut and Grand. There two giant inflated, Santa and Mrs. Claus shook and rolled like bowls of jelly to recorded peals of laughter. They have lost Mrs. Claus but Santa is at Crown Center. We watched the antics at Harzfelds of the figures. While we were at Harzfelds a stylish woman asked if she could give something to our children. She gave us a Russell Stover 1 pound box. The kids wanted it immediately but we told them we had to check it out first. The fairy princess is still at the KC Museum. They have many versions at places now but that is one experience.

Buying Christmas gifts

When our five children were young we lived near a dime store called the J and B Store. It was down on Shawnee Mission Highway--called Highway 10 at that time in a small shopping center. We would park in front of the store with the kids in the car and they were each given a dollar to buy four .25 gifts. One of us would accompany the child so they would not duplicate the gift. They would buy the gift and then get back in the car. You could get great gifts for a quarter in this store. They would take them home and wrap them in tissue paper and put under the tree.

Our children loved the Sears and Wards catalog before Christmas and would go through it and write their names under things they wanted, We would share our list with grandparents and they would let us know so we did not duplicate. We had great experiences with this. At Sears one year they never had our order. One day after about five trials the clerk recognized us and said she thought she knew where the order was and they had left the M off of Morgan and we were under Organ.

With Wards one Christmas our order was never there. Ray happened to be covering a story and the executive of Wards was in Kansas City from Chicago to attend the meeting. The executive checked and that night we had a call that they were delivering our order. It seemed the store was not giving the orders out and the manager had the store in a mess. The dresses we ordered for our three daughters were so far down in the pile at the store that we could never get the creases out. We had ordered a Bible for my mother and it was there. We had some new stuff for Steve's train and it was there. Now I do not know if either Sears or Wards even has a Christmas catalog.

wife sitting

When I was still too young to baby sit I used to wife sit. My parents were good friends with the coach at Washburn and when he went out of town his wife did not like to be alone. I think my sister, Helen and I took turns wife sitting. She had two small children which we entertained and then went to bed. I guess she just liked to have someone else in the house. It was great fun and I enjoyed it. I think I must have been about ten.

Christmas gifts

Our local Grocery store at Christmas offered toys. One year they had a large cannon toy. Our youngest son, Scott, fell in love with it. When we first moved to Kansas City we lived in a three bedroom house. There was no dining room. The dining room was at the end of the living room. It was a nice big room but it meant we ate in the living room. That Christmas Scott got his cannon. It shot plastic balls a few feet. On Christmas morning we were seated at the dining table eating breakfast with Ray's parents. Scott wanted to shoot that cannon. Steve showed him how. He shot off the first ball and it sailed across the room and ended in his grandfather's oatmeal.

Snowmen

One August in 1951 I was reading a magazine and it told you how to make wooden snowmen for Christmas for your front lawn. I thought that would be great. My Brother-in-law Roy helped me. We got large sheets of paper and drew our five. Then Roy got some wood and with his jig saw cut them out for me. I got them painted. I wanted to put a sign in front. We had many Jewish friends so I did not want Merry Christmas and settled for Happy Holidays. We added were two more children a cat and a dog. When we added a daughter-in-law we added another. However that did not work out so we didn't add any more. Cindy's snowman was taken one Christmas but we found it up in a ditch south of our house and put it back up. As years went by we added lights to the house but it has pretty stayed the same. We did not add the 13 grandchildren.

Agricultural Hall of Fame

In 1959 The Agricultural Hall of Fame was started. Harry Darby was busy getting it done. Historians had recommended that there be a library where they gathered technical books about farming on power machinery, fertilizer, plant and animal breeding, forestry, soil and water management. Anything Harry Darby was into Ray was interested in. President Eisenhower was for it. Harry Truman was interested. Kansas seemed a good place to locate it. A few other states wanted it but Eisenhower was able to get it in Bonner Springs. Kansas. Ray and I went out to visit it. I was shocked to see they had the same refrigerator I had at home on display. I still have it in my basement but don't know if it works anymore. It had an early American Village, an Indian village, an outdoor amphitheatre. It would cost about $1,000,000. The total cost would be $170.000. It seems in trouble now and they have changed the staff and made adjustments. I guess not enough people were that interested in going to see it or it was too far to drive to. I'm not sure but it seemed a good idea at the time.